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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Guest Blog: Mike Faricy on Robert Parker's Jesse Stone

Minnesota native Mike Faricy, author of "Russian Roulette" and 7 other funny, quirky crime novels (all available for $2.99 for Kindle), joins us on the blog to discuss PI characters who have been an influence on his writing. Up today is Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone.

Thanks to Must Read Mysteries for
letting me share my thoughts on PI characters I’ve read and how they influenced
my writing. To start, since I seem to have an authority problem, let’s not look
at PI characters. I feel like starting with a Chief of Police, although he was
an LAPD detective before he was forced out the door. I’m talking about Robert
B. Parker’s conflicted protagonist, Jesse Stone.

Best known for his Spenser novels,
Parker wrote the first Jesse Stone novel, Night Passage, in 1997. He wrote a total of nine novels in the Jesse Stone series
before he passed away in 2010. The last one, Split Image, was published after his death. The Jesse Stone novels
are the only ones Parker wrote using the third-person narrative. Michael
Brandman has continued the series and penned Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues, released in September, 2011.

I like Jesse Stone for a variety of
reasons, not the least is he’s one terribly troubled individual. In his early
days Jesse was a minor league shortstop who lost his shot at the major leagues
once his throwing arm was injured. You get the sense he’s been on relatively
thin ice ever since. Parker himself said it best, “Jesse is a much damaged
individual who is coming to terms with himself as he goes along.”

Jesse is plagued by recurring
demons; drink, depression and his ex-wife. Which came first? Jesse’s divorce
from his ‘film star’ wife seems to have lit the fuse to his ongoing battle with
drink, scotch and soda being his preference. His drinking forces his departure
from the LAPD and guarantees his hire by the Paradise, Massachusetts town council. Jesse,
intoxicated at his job interview, gets pegged as an individual the town council
will be able to control. They make him an offer he really can’t refuse, by the
way, it’s also the only offer he has.

Almost every time he seems to have
beaten his drink problem, his ex-wife washes up on shore, leading to a bout of depression
and then a drink relapse drifting in her wake. But at least half of that seems
to be Jesse’s fault, he’s never really honest with himself where the ex is
concerned and then feels blindsided when things don’t work out, yet again.
Jesse is complex, damaged, and lacking answers, all of which make for a
fascinating read.

The Jesse Stone novels have been
turned into made for TV movies on CBS. Tom Selleck is cast as Jesse Stone, you
watch about sixty seconds and know there is no one else who could play Jesse Stone
as well as Selleck. Actually, Selleck, in conjunction with Michael Brandman
wrote the screen plays for the series. The reports I’m reading suggest the most
recent movie, Benefit of Doubt, which
aired just this past May 20, will be the last Jesse Stone CBS does. Selleck and
Brandman suggest this is not the end of the series, just the last one with CBS
involvement, I hope the series continues.

The television adaptations differ
slightly. In Parker’s novels, Jesse Stone is in his mid thirties. Obviously
Selleck plays a more mature character. In Night
Passage, Jesse interviews for the chief of police job drunk, in the television
adaptation he’s just very hung over. Selleck also, in the most recent
production, carries a Colt Commander .45 ACP pistol rather than the Smith &
Wesson Model 36 snub nosed revolver, but his portrayal of the dark side of
Stone’s personality is uncanny. Jesse Stone is known for his dry, matter of
fact one-liners and Tom Selleck delivers them perfectly. In Benefit of Doubt Jesse Stone says, “I
think it looks like he hung himself.”

“Yeah, I think he hung himself,”
replies Captain Healy.

“That’s not the same thing,” Jesse
says.

Robert B. Parker himself said, “Tom
Selleck nails the character.” Indeed he does.

Loved Russian Roulette. Never read any of the Jesse Stone books before reading this blog, but am now finishing Night Passage. Thank you! Without Must Read Mysteries I would never have met up with either Dev or Jesse. Judith

Mike.. I am so in love with the Jesse Stone series as well as Tom Selleck as being one of the greatest actors alive..and like you said, no one could play Jesse Stone but Selleck... Thanks for sharing your thoughts..awesome! Love love love your book Russian Roulette...and Thank you , Must Read Mysteries <3Laureen Sonia